Career
His research interests include the economic, social and political history of the Middle East, especially Egypt, from 1800 to the present, as well as the theories of imperialism, including military occupations. He read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Magdalen College, the University of Oxford, from 1956 to 1959, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in Economic History at Saint Antony"s College, from 1960 to 1964. One of his close advisers was the renowned Middle East historian Albert Hourani.
His thesis which was on the cotton production and the development of the economy in nineteenth century Egypt was later published into a book
When in the 1960s new postgraduate course in modern Middle Eastern studies were introduced at Street Anthony"s College and a raft of new posts created with British government funding, Owen was appointed in Economic and Social History in 1964. He served as Director of Saint Antony"s College Middle East Centre, from 1971-1974, 1980-1982, 1986-1988, and 1991-1993.
He is currently the A.J. Meyer Professor Emeritus of Middle East History at Harvard University and was previously the director of Harvard"s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES). In addition to his teaching and scholarship, Owen frequently writes columns for the English-language versions of the Arabic newspapers First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Hayat and First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Ahram.
